"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 11 - Dimension of Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

Then the lights and dials on the metal boxes along the wall lit up, some of them flashing on and off,
while needles wobbled and jerked across dials. Some sort of monitoring process was going
onтАФNarlena's "tests." Obviously, both the mummy case and the boxes on the wall were part of it. Blade
was reminded of films he had seen of medical data on astronauts in space.
The light show went on for perhaps another five minutes; then all the lights and dials went dark
simultaneously. The hissing sound began again as the reddish gas was drawn back out of the mummy
case through the same tube. The cover swung back, and Narlena stepped out into the vault, a contented
look on her face. She sat down on the fur that covered the floor, folded herself gracefully into the lotus
position, and looked up at Blade with curiosity, as well as admiration.
"Who are you, Blade?" Her voice was casual, with hardly more concern for his answer than a bus
conductor saying, "Fare, please." One would have thought she was as accustomed to entertaining nude
male guests as a Home Dimension hostess might be to having cocktail parties. No, that was not quite
correct, thought Blade. Once again he noticed the look in her eyes as they strayed over his massive
physique, more than occasionally focusing on his genitals. Obviously, Narlena was physically interested in
him.
He decided to tell her the truth about himself. "I am not from your world at all, Narlena. I am from
another dimension, and I came here because a computer was attached to my brain and altered it so that I
can now see and sense your dimension and speak your language."
"A lakhyr was attached to your brain? Oh, that is wonderful! Then your people also must have the
Dreams. You will be very much at home here in Pura." She seemed almost about to clap her hands for
joy. Then her face fell. "But I do not know if there is an empty vault in working condition for you. Even if
there is, I do not know how to set one for anybody but myself. We would have to find a vault master
who can analyze any person and adjust a vault for him so that he can have the kind of Dreams he wants
most of all. But there are not very many of the vault masters, and we would have to find one of them
Waking. I am afraid you will have a long Waking. But there are things we can do during the Waking."
There was a mischievous glint in her eye as she said the last sentence.
Blade nodded absently. His mind was divided between relief at the casual way she had accepted his
tale of coming from another dimension and mystification at her constant talk of Dreams and vaults and
Waking. Obviously, these had some key role in her societyтАФor in what her society had become.
Although Blade had his suspicions, he wanted to learn more precisely what she was talking about.
He shook his head, as if in bewildermentтАФand he was not entirely faking the bewilderment, either.
He said, "Narlena, in my dimension we do not have Dreams. I use the computer only to travel between
dimensions. When I am at home, I am waking all the time, except when I am sleeping naturally." He
wondered if that would make any sense to her. It hinged on the accuracy of his guesswork about the
nature of Dreams and Waking.
Apparently his guess had been right. Narlena shook her head in sadness and said, "So you have
nothing but the Little Dream that is written about in our old books? The ones that show the time before
we discovered the real Dreams and how to have them all the time except when we Wake for our tests?"
Blade was beginning to have some vague glimmering of what Narlena was talking about. But her brief
speech still sounded strange, as though every third word were in a language he did not understand.
Continuing to look bewildered and mystified he said, "Narlena, I do not understand. You seem to be
sorry for me and my people because we only have what you call the Little Dream. How is that different
from the real Dream that you say your people have?"
Narlena's voice took on an indignant edge. "I do not just say my people have the real DreamтАФwe
do! For a hundred years and more, almost two hundred, in fact, we have had them whenever we
wanted. Since the Wakers began taking over, a hundred years ago, we have all been Dreaming all the
time except for when we also Wake to take our tests. It is the greatest achievement of our people."
There was a note of defiance forced into that last sentence, which made Blade wonder if she really
believed what she said.
He still did not entirely understand what she was saying, but now only one out of every four or five